- May mean “noble-born,” “young warrior,” or someone “likely to serve”
- May also mean sheep or lamb
- In Wales, commonly spelled Owain
- In Ireland/Scotland, the Celtic variations are Eoghan, Eóghain and Éogan, which can mean “young”
- Related names include Ewan, Ewen, Ywain
More history of the name Owen
Owen is one of the many Welsh names that is not usual in England and the United States, and like most Welsh surnames, it is derived from a popular first name (Owain).
The Welsh did not take last names as soon as Englishmen did, and when they did, they usually simply took their own or their father’s first name as a family name.
Owen is of Celtic derivation, and probably means sheep or lamb. However, it may mean young warrior or, on another authority “apt to serve.”
Doubtless the first name Owen gained its popularity in Wales partly because of Owen or Owain, Prince of Powys, a valiant fighter who died in 1195; and partly because of Owen Glendower (Owain Glyn Dwr), last of the Welsh patriots, the defeated chief of a discontented people, who stubbornly held his own in a rugged mountain fastness, who lived and died in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
